Inflammatory “ten percenters” on the gun registry goes too far.

Just a little follow up to my blogpost detailing the vandalism and criminal acts that took place in Guelph on Friday. When you see stuff like this:

or this:

…you’d think maybe the Conservatives should have known better then to be passing around this latest “10 percenter” ad I received in the mail this past Friday, which condemns the Long Gun Registry with the usual Conservative talking points and saying that they’re scrapping it with† some apocalyptic and incendiary language like this?

“How can they (the Liberals) continue to hide behind the ridiculous long-gun registry, blatantly insulting law-abiding farmers and hunters while violent criminals continue to menace our streets? The Conservative Government is ending the insult… we’re restoring the dignity and respect for the farmers, hunters and sportsmen who have been persecuted…”

This ad (part of it seen at the end of this blogpost) was sent out in Oxford on behalf of the local MP, Dave Mackenzie. I’m presuming the Conservatives are sending this bit of propaganda to their rural ridings prior to the election call so that they can try and stir up anger among that portion of the electorate. My point about this is when the Conservatives use such venom and use such inflammatory remarks in going after the gun registry,† I’m not sure it should be much surprise that some wingnut(s) (or psychopath(s), as Matthew called the person/persons) gets enraged at reading this kind of† poisonous remarks and then goes out and causes havoc, as they did in Guelph. I mean, read Matthew’s account of what could have happened to some neighbours of his† who were one of the homes victimized by this:

We had friends over who live two doors away from one of the vandalized homes. Their neighbours’ home was spraypainted and the car keyed. However, it wasn’t until they called the police to report the vandalism that they were warned to check their brakelines – which were indeed cut. Had the police not warned them that this was part of the psychopathic vandals’ attacks, they could very well have died – all routes leading from their house head downhill.

If the Conservatives want to attack the gun registry, fine;† but stop using over-the-top remarks like what’s in this disgrace for an ad.† There’s a difference of using language here† that will potentially motivate your core voters to vote, and using language that can potentially motivate people to go out and damage property and do stuff like cutting brake lines that can kill someone.

I’m not saying this particular 10 percenter ad caused this orgy of vandalism and sabotage in Guelph. I’m just saying the type of inflammatory language used in this ad could incite some crackpot wingnut with anger management issues to go and take his anger out on Liberal supporters, with potentially deadly results, such as what would have happened in Guelph if someone had driven off to work not knowing their brake lines had been sabotaged.

kwittet, I don’t support either of those governments or their spending patterns. I think the Greens would do a much better job of managing our military because they wouldn’t send our troops off to Afghanistan years after the Taliban are out of power.

Scott your comments make me think of a small guy in a group that is picking a fight with a group of bigger guys…he gets in a few cheap shots then runs away. You make the assumption stir up the crap then you back off and sit back and watch what happens.

SAskboy…i am assuming by your comment that the liberal goverments before harper spent billions on veterans? NOPE!!
the problem has been on going for many years. I think Harper SHOULD be doing more!! But to totally place the blame on him which is what you insinuate is wrong.

Cara…you are paranoid!! Are you a member of the I hate America group?

The whole gun registry was a total farce..it cost the taxpayers billions. I am a LEGAL gunowner. I registered my firearms as the law required. It was going to cost me $10 per gun by mail so instead of spending over a hundred dollars I did it over the internet which cost me nothing. One year later the morons that were running the registry under the current liberal goverment sent me a refund cheque. It was labeled GUN REGISTRY REFUND and i got over half my money back..yet I spent nothing. So If everyone that did the internet registry got half a refund back for NOTHING..that means they didnt even know who paid and who didnt so do you really think we should trust another liberal government with my money? I THINK NOT!!

zingo “$45 billion in new funding” for the military doesn’t support violence in your mind?

It wouldn’t if the 10%er was about ensuring veterans are cared for when they return from work or retire, but it’s only about “helping new, democratically-elected governments rebuild,” which is supposedly required to “protect us”. It’s just more of the Bush government’s “fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here” garbage.

Jennifer, the gun registry was a boondoggle, and a scheme that didn’t take into account most rural gun owners. I think most people realize that guns should be traceable, but the Liberal’s implementation of the registry was a crime unto itself.

Of course, none of that excuses this vandalism and intimidation which should be prosecuted severely.

Given that the Tories seem to follow the Republican playbook as closely as they do, I believe you are correct to suggest a link between the 10%ers and vandalism. In the US the Republicans have been electorally successful because they got the votes of socially conservative whites who were hostile to social change. To appeal to this group it was necessary to create scapegoats who would be responsible for problems these conservatives thought existed. Consequently, blacks and affirmative action took away jobs, homosexuals destroyed families, non-christians declared war on Christmas, etc.
It seems to me that what the Tories are trying to do is to create a class of voter who is as angry as US white conservatives and then present their party as the Solution. They are trying to import a political culture of anger and resentment into Canada when they tell people that Liberals are ‘insulting’ them, etc.
If you are interested in this I suggest you read “The End of the Dominance of Bubba” in latest issue of The Nation.

As a hunter and a long gun owner, I look forward to receiving one of these ten-percenters so I can tear it into little tiny pieces and mail it back to them.

I am not persecuted. I am not insulted, except when assholes like these pretend to speak for me. In fact, I am barely inconvenienced by having to register my firearms, which takes about five minutes online and costs nothing.

In this country, gun ownership is a privilege, not a right, so whatever I have to do to ensure that guns are kept out of the hands of criminals, or to help the police investigate gun crime or keep them safe when they respond to a call, is just fine by me.

Scott… you’re correct in your assumption about the Cons sending that out to their rural ridings. I was at my in-laws in Leeds-Grenville this weekend and they had a couple of those very same 10 percenters there. Talk about an insulting piece. You should have added a picture of the front cover, with their attempt at reverse profiling. Such crap.

[…] you up too. What kind of straight up guy approves the In-and-Out advertising scam, and propaganda 10%er mail outs? The same one who smiles like an android for the cameras, and needs an oily spokesblob to explain […]